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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677877">About Starfish and Squares</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelGreen/pseuds/EstelGreen'>EstelGreen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Home is where the heart is [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Light Angst, Romance, dousy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:26:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,406</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677877</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EstelGreen/pseuds/EstelGreen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically just Daisy trying to figure out what to do about her feelings for Daniel and Daniel being... well, Daniel. All with a little teasing and heart eyes. Set after the end of S7 in a timeline that was changed a lot (just my pure speculation).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Home is where the heart is [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874335</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>161</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>About Starfish and Squares</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi guys!<br/>Uh, it's been a few years since I've actually published something (and didn't finish, oops). This is my first fic connected to a TV show, but since it is my favourite one and is already ending and they gave us Daniel freakin' Sousa as a new love interest for our girl Daisy I just couldn't sit on the sidelines but jump on the ship and now I am basically just a Dousy trash. Plus I got ideas and couldn't wait until the season ends hence this little fic I put down over the weekend. The timeline is pretty messed-up at this point and I have no idea what are they going to do about it so, this is just my pure speculation about what it would look like in the future after all those changes.<br/>Basically, I just wanted to write one small fluff and flirty scene but somehow this fic came alive and decided otherwise.<br/>But enough of my rambling, I hope you enjoy reading this.<br/>Beware of mistakes, nobody else edited it but myself and I may be a little rusty in writing in English.</p><p>And just a little disclaimer: I don't own any characters, they are a property of Marvel and Marvel Television.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He could hear the sound of Daisy's fast typing before he walked into Zephyr’s dining area. She didn't see him enter the room, though. Sitting sideways at the table, she kept her eyes trained on the laptop screen, completely focused on her work. Daniel stopped in the doorway, leaned against the wall, and quietly watched over her like she could disappear into thin air at any moment.</p><p>He caught himself doing it ever since Nathaniel killed her mom and he found Daisy on the ground next to her body with tears welled up in her eyes. She let them fall the second he softly spoke her name. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and he stroked her hair and held her close as long as she needed it. God knows that if it was up to him, he would hold her like that forever. She clung to him for dear life.</p><p>“You are hurt,” he worriedly looked over the bump on her forehead, brushing her hair from her face.</p><p>She didn't respond. She moved her hands to his chest and kept looking at them, lost in thoughts. A look of fear and confusion crossed her face and she finally met his eyes.</p><p>“How am I still here?”</p><p>That sentence stayed on his mind for over a week now, like a constant reminder of how much Chronicoms screwed up the timeline - with the help of Malicks, mainly Nathaniel. Just a brief thought of him brought that rage against the man full force. He shouldn't dwell on that anymore, it was in the past after all, but still, he couldn't forget. The barn. What he did to Daisy. To her mom. Daniel shook his head. Nathaniel is long gone now; Daisy took care of that. In the end, it didn't matter that he had those powers longer than she did. She crushed him, just like she told him she will back in that godforsaken barn. Daniel was so proud of her.</p><p>They won. They destroyed Sybil permanently with the help of Fitz and returned to the future. Not like it was a return for him but he didn't mind being here... with her. It was so strange to him. Yes, he had fallen in love before but somehow this was different. Unexpected. It hit him like a bullet in the back, totally unprepared and he was too far gone before he even realized it. <em>‘Huh, no pun intended</em>,’ he thought. Million times better than those two bullets in the back he was originally supposed to get. And yet, at the same time, it scared him. The thought of him making it to the future without her. He was scared that the messed-up timeline will catch up with them and take her away from him. Not that she would be his, she is her own person but... He closed his eyes and shook his head again. He is in head over heels.</p><p>Something has changed between them. Well, more precisely, something about Daisy has changed ever since she was stuck in the time loop. Whatever that was, whatever happened that she didn't tell him about, it gave him a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe she's falling for him too. A hope that this time it won't end up like with Peggy. However, another part of him kept screaming not to give his hopes up. After all, she is a superhero with impressive powers from the future and he - he is a square, she said it herself. But he finds it that he doesn't care. He just wants to be there for her in whatever way she lets him. People like her should have someone to pick them back up after they hit the figurative walls. In Daisy’s case even the literal ones.</p><p>“Enjoying the view?” Daisy calls with a smirk. She could feel Daniel's presence for some time now but wanted to finish her work. Setting up new identities and lives in this new timeline is a pain in the ass. She officially doesn't exist, Daniel is supposed to be dead, Coulson is actually still alive so she has to set something up for LMD version of him and Deke - well he was always out of time.</p><p>She turns to look at Daniel at the lack of his response. He is looking in her general direction but his eyes are unfocused. She keeps looking at him, almost getting lost in her own thoughts that she promised herself she'll sort through. Mainly those particular memories from the time loops.</p><p>“Earth to Sousa,” she calls again, tilting her head to the side. She can't help but smile as she sees his eyes focusing on hers.</p><p>“Hi! Sorry, got lost for a while,” he sheepishly smiles and pushes off of the wall.</p><p>“Anything interesting on your mind you'd like to share?” Daisy can't help herself but tease him with a glint in her eyes.</p><p>Daniel's breath catches for a moment, fearing she could read his mind somehow. But she can't, can she? She's just teasing him. She likes to do that. He throws up his arms and looks around. “Everything is on my mind.”</p><p>“Yeah. It's a lot to process, I guess. But you are a champ at that by now,” Daisy tells him, watching him with a soft smile as he walks over to the fridge.</p><p>“Don't know about that,” he throws over his shoulder as he takes out some eggs and veggies. “Hungry?” He looks at her questioningly as he sets the ingredients on the counter.</p><p>Daisy's stomach rumbles as an answer. She laughs. “Like a wolf.”</p><p>“I'll make us some omelet,” he proposes as he prepares to start cooking.</p><p>“OK. Thanks,” Daisy softly says and tries to concentrate on her work again. She fails at that miserably, her eyes wandering towards Daniel all the time. <em>‘How is he even real?’</em> She keeps asking herself ever since she first met him in his office in 1955. She has to smile at how crazy that sounds in her head. They basically know each other for seventy-five years. She doesn’t question everything he does for her anymore. She got the answer on that in the time loop. However, that doesn’t mean he stopped surprising her. It’s nice to have someone who takes care of her for once.  Someone who is listening to her and is just…there for her. She doesn’t need to be his rock like she always used to think she needs to be for everyone else on the team.</p><p>Daisy looks at him again. His back is turned towards her as he is chopping the veggies. <em>‘What a sight to behold.’ </em>She grins widely at that and bites her lip. Nope, she can’t get distracted. She still has work to do. She fixes her eyes on the screen of her laptop again. The more she’s trying not to think about him, the more she does. She thinks about their little conversation. About that kiss… <em>‘Nope. Definitely not going there. Not now.’</em></p><p>“Daisy?” The sound of her name tears her out of her thoughts. She likes how it sounds when he says it.</p><p>“Huh?” She looks at him and hopes her face doesn’t give away what she was thinking about. He is leaning against the counter fully turned towards her with an amused expression.</p><p>“I asked if you know where Coulson and Deke are,” he tells her. Of course, he doesn’t ask what was on her mind when she wasn’t answering before. He’s nice like that.</p><p>“Uh, I think Deke went to set some things up for himself with the new ID I made for him and he said something about staying over at Fitz-Simmons’s this night,” she shrugged. “And Coulson is charging back in the LMD lab,” she pointed with her hand towards it.</p><p>“So, it’s just the two of us then,” he stated the obvious, his deep brown eyes locking with hers.</p><p>“Uh-huh,” she hums, breath catching in her throat. She should have some funny retort to that, shouldn’t she? “Any ideas?” She teases with a smile and slaps herself mentally. <em>‘Why am I like this?’</em></p><p>He doesn’t break eye contact and Daisy can see the change in his eyes. He gives her a small amused smile like he can see right through her. She can feel the air becoming heavier.</p><p>She cleared her throat. “I mean, I got us new Netflix subscription, so… if you want, we can watch-“ She was interrupted by a beep of a pop-up window on her laptop. “Oh, come on!” She exclaimed frustrated.</p><p>“Something’s wrong?” Daniel asked concerned.</p><p>“Nothing I can’t fix,” she told him as she started to work on fixing the problem. “But it will take time,” she sighed and ran her hand through her hair.</p><p>“OK, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll finish dinner.” She gave him a grateful smile and he returned to preparing the meal.</p><p>Daisy told herself that this is why she can’t deal with her feelings right now. Why she can’t think about how nice that kiss was. She has work to do and she needs to finish it first then deal with whatever is going on with the two of them. The sooner she does that, the sooner they all can start living a new life somewhere that is not on the Zephyr. A quick thought goes through her head; she always finds an excuse so she doesn’t have to deal with her feelings. She always tells herself “later”. Maybe it’s easier to do that than admit to herself that she is scared. Maybe a part of her is grateful the time loop did reset and Daniel doesn’t remember what happened. Because the last thing she wants is for him to get hurt…or worse. That is what happens to people she cares about, who care about her. She still remembers that time when she was in the dark place after everything went down with Hive and Lincoln, after she chose to leave the team and become a vigilante. The pain, the guilt she felt. May has told her back then that she doesn’t get to choose who cares about her. And finally, she accepted it; she returned back to the team. And then Coulson died. And Fitz. They went to space to search for the other version of Fitz. Davis was killed. Then May almost died in her arms in that temple and next thing she knows they are on the Zephyr in 1931. When she thinks about it, she’s been bottling everything up. She labeled every feeling, every memory with the “later” tag.</p><p>She can feel tears forming in her eyes so she blinks a few times to get rid of them. How did her mind go down that dark rabbit hole with just a single thought? She doesn’t know. What she does know is, that she will have to deal with all of it one day and she can’t ignore the small part of her which hopes that Daniel will be there to pick her back up after that dam of bottled feelings and pain breaks down. One day, but not now.</p>
<hr/><p>Daniel woke up in his bunk. The light was still on and the book he was reading laid open on his chest. He looked at his wristwatch. 3:35 A.M. He ran his hand down his face with a sigh. He doesn’t even know when he fell asleep.</p><p>After he and Daisy ate the dinner, he retreated to his bunk to continue his research on everything he missed in seventy-five years. Daisy showed him some web pages on the tablet that could come in handy, like this Wikipedia thing. She said though, to take everything written there with a bit of skepticism since apparently the page is sometimes not the most reliable source of information. Coulson gave him some history books he picked up for the team in a bookstore in a nearby city since those they had from before were useless in the new timeline. Nobody seemed to be interested in reading them but him. After they found out that the real Coulson is alive as well as May’s ex-husband Andrew which is not an ex in this timeline and they have a daughter, and that the public doesn’t know anything about the existence of Inhumans, Daisy kind of didn’t want to know more about what changed. Mainly after Fitz mentioned something about Grant Ward being alive too.</p><p>Daniel sat up on his bed with a grunt and put the history book aside. His mouth was dry. He decided to go get some water. He quietly opened the door on his bunk and walked towards the dining area. As he walked past Daisy’s bunk, he saw that the doors are open and her bed is empty. He closed his eyes with a sigh. Leave it to her to rest and she won’t.</p><p>When he entered the dining area, he was greeted with a sight of Daisy sleeping with her head placed on her arms next to the laptop on the table. She looked peaceful but uncomfortable. He shook his head with a smile and walked towards the counter to pour himself a glass of water. After he drank it, he moved next to Daisy and lightly put his hand on her back.</p><p>“Daisy?” He whispered so he wouldn’t startle her. She didn’t move.</p><p>“Okay,” he murmured to himself. <em>‘Let’s try something else.’</em> He carefully moved her body in a proper sitting position while simultaneously going to one knee. Putting his one arm around her back and the other under her knees, he pulled her close and her head rolled onto his shoulder. A soft sigh escaped her lips but she didn’t wake up. He stood up with her in his arms and slightly adjusted her weight, although it was so much easier and painless than the first time he carried her. He can’t be more amazed by the new prosthetic. Daisy’s arms went around his neck and she hid her face in his shoulder with another (content?) sigh. He smiled and before he thought better of it, he kissed the top of her head.</p><p>When he got to her bunk, he carefully put her down on the bed and unlocked her arms from around his neck. She grunted unhappily at the loss of contact. Smiling, he moved towards her feet and started undoing her shoes. When he was finished, he pulled the blanket from under her and covered her with it. Satisfied with the result of Daisy sleeping comfortably in her own bed, he looked at her one more time, leaned over, and softly brushed some hair from her face.</p><p>“Good night, Daisy.” He whispered as he straightened up. When he turned to leave the room, her hand caught his wrist.</p><p>“Daniel?” Daisy murmured half asleep. “Stay.”</p><p>His heart leaped into his throat. He stepped closer to her bed, her hand still holding his wrist. Her eyes were opened, looking at him pleadingly in the low light coming from the corridor. She slowly moved further on her bed to make a space for him. He was, however, waging an internal war. After all, this is something that would be considered highly inappropriate in his times. Probably even now, in the 21<sup>st</sup> century.</p><p>“I shouldn’t,” he told her quietly.</p><p>“Please,” she whispered her eyes closing again.</p><p>He sighed heavily and mentally cursed himself. He would do anything she asked of him, wouldn’t he? How could he say no when all he wants is to hold her close? He wants to stay but he shouldn’t. Yet he already knows he’ll do as she wants.</p><p>“OK,” he murmured resignedly.</p><p>Daisy smiled, satisfied, and let go of his wrist. He closed the door and sat down on her bed. He took off his shoes before he crawled under the blanket with her. She immediately moved closer to him and put her head on top of his chest, resting her hand over his heart. His instant shock melted away quite quickly and he wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her even closer. She hummed contently. Daniel turned his head towards hers and planted one more kiss on top of her head, smiling. Any doubts he had before disappeared in the warmth of her body pressed into his side and the feeling of her heartbeat resonating with his own.</p>
<hr/><p>No nightmares this night. That was the first thing that went through Daisy’s head after she woke up. She sighed and pressed her head into the pillow happily. Only then she realized that it’s not her pillow she is pressing her face into but another human being’s chest. That was the moment she became acutely aware of a warm arm around her waist holding her close and the fact that her legs were tangled with the legs of that person. She was basically sprawled across half of him like a freakin’ starfish. She went rigid for a moment before she finally dared to open her eyes. She was in her bunk. How did she get here?</p><p>If she was being honest with herself, she didn’t really need to look up to figure out who she made a pillow from. She already knew, but still, she looked up to be met with a peaceful face of sleeping Daniel Sousa. Was his face really buried in her hair before she looked up or it just looked like it was? She felt her cheeks burn. Her heart hammered in her chest at high speed. <em>‘Please, don’t quake,’</em> she begged herself. God, she was so grateful that he was still asleep and didn’t see her blushing. Speaking of… Daniel sighed and his arm tightened around her waist. <em>‘Shit!’</em> Daisy moved her head down, the last thing she wanted was for him to wake up to her staring at him while profusely blushing. She could feel how his own heart was slowly picking up pace. She smiled. Somehow it made it less awkward that her own heart was racing like crazy. Now that she comes to think of it, this is an extremely comfortable position and she really likes her new pillow.</p><p>“Hmm, good morning,” Daniel murmured hoarsely.</p><p>“More like lunch, really,” she babbled, looking at the clock on her bedside table. “But good morning to you too,” she quickly added hiding her smile in his chest. “How did you know I was awake?”</p><p>“Apart from that heartbeat of yours? Hmm, let me think,” he chuckled. She liked how it resonated in his chest.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said as she slowly looked up at him, locking her eyes with his. “A little side effect of my powers. Be glad I didn’t quake you out of the bed,” she smirked.</p><p>He raised his eyebrows, an amused smile playing on his lips. She tried not to look at them for too long. “That happened before?”</p><p>“Nope. But once I quaked myself out of the bed,” she laughed and he joined in. It lighted up his eyes even more. She had to look down on his chest to gather her thoughts. It wasn’t helping very much. “Anyway,” she cleared her throat, “care to elaborate how am I actually here? Last I remember I was resting my eyes on the table in the dining area.”</p><p>“Well, it wasn’t much of resting your eyes as it was more of an uncomfortable sleeping,” he chuckled. “Tried to wake you up but you wouldn’t even budge. So, I carried you here,” he explained.</p><p>Daisy met his eyes again amused, trying not to imagine him carrying her in his arms. “You carried me here? Just like you carried me out of that barn?”</p><p>“Uh-huh,” he hummed looking down at her.</p><p>“You seem to like carrying me around a lot, agent Sousa,” she teased him while pushing up on one elbow so she could look at him better. He gave her a small smile and…did he just look at her lips? She gulped.</p><p>“You seem to like being unconscious a lot, agent Johnson,” he replied jokingly.</p><p>Daisy smiled widely. “Well then, in that case, you have to carry me while I’m still awake next time.”</p><p>“Maybe I will,” he teased her back with a glint in his eyes.</p><p><em>'Looks like someone is in a playful mood this morning,’</em> she thought to herself. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she hummed. The way he was looking at her, the way his arm was burning her waist through her t-shirt and the way her own hand just casually laid on his chest suddenly became unbearable and at the same time she wanted more. More of him. Her eyes flicked to his lips, then to his eyes and then anywhere else but him. One side of her just wanted to lean in and kiss him like she did in the time loop, another side was basically screaming at her to abort the mission. She inhaled deeply to calm herself down and pushed away from him completely, now lying next to him on her back.</p><p>“So,” she started again looking at the ceiling twisting her hands together nervously, “did I, uh, say something after you brought me here?”</p><p>“Uh-huh,” he said as he propped himself on one elbow, now looking down at her with that little smile of his clearly enjoying himself by teasing her. Oh, how the tables have turned.</p><p>“Did I…beg you to stay?” She asked him, eyeing him cautiously.</p><p>He just smiled even more.</p><p>“I did, didn’t I? Oh God,” she mumbled, covering her face with her hands as she heard him chuckle next to her. “Sorry. The last thing I wanted was to put you in an uncomfortable situation. I just…,” she looked at him, her hands now playing with the hem of her t-shirt. She took a deep breath. “When I am extremely tired, I kind of loose the filter and say whatever is on my mind. Like a drunk person.” She smiled innocently at him.</p><p>“So, you are extremely honest then?” He asked her with a smirk, some kind of plan already forming in his eyes.</p><p>Daisy laughed. “Don’t you dare to use it against me,” she warned him jokingly. “Anyway, did I say…anything else?” She knows that there is so much she could’ve possibly said to him, things that she can’t reveal while she is in a half-asleep state when she definitely won’t take a moment to explain herself.</p><p>“You called me by my first name,” he shrugged, still smiling.</p><p>“Hmm, did I?” She grinned. She was calling him Daniel in her head since…well, since the kiss probably. “It would be a shame to go back to calling you Sousa now, wouldn’t it?”</p><p>“It definitely would,” he agreed.</p><p>“So, Daniel it is, then,” she smiled softly at him. “But I mean it, I’m sorry for putting you in that position. I know that you’re-“</p><p>“A square?” he cut her off with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>“That’s not exactly what I was gonna say but since you’ve mentioned it - I kinda like squares,” she gave him a teasing smile and he had to look away for a moment before finding her eyes again. “I mean, I basically made a pillow out of you and wrapped you in a starfish hug - unconsciously - but still. Without an explanation or…something.” She looked at her hands sheepishly. “I just can understand that it could be too much for you and-” She kept rambling before he cut her off again.</p><p>“I kinda like starfish,” he told her with a shrug.</p><p>She looked up at him. His face was soft and honest and she thought she’s going to drown in his warm eyes.</p><p>“And I didn’t mind being your pillow at all,” he added.</p><p>Just one swift move of her hand to grab his shirt and pull him to her. That is the only thing that she needs to do to kiss him. Right there and then. Daisy already knows he would be more than a willing participant. She knows that is would be probably even better that their first kiss - which he doesn’t remember. That is probably what is keeping her from actually going for it. Maybe she should just tell him. Or kiss him first and tell him later? <em>‘No,’</em> she tells herself. <em>‘This is not the right time or place for that conversation.’</em> And yet she can’t help herself. She can’t break the eye contact, she can’t move. She’s frozen in place and maybe even space and time, because what are those? They are inconsequential at this moment. She is lost in that chocolate heart eyes of his. They are reflecting exactly the same emotion, exactly the same desire as hers. He wants to kiss her too, she realizes, but he won’t unless she gives him a go…or kisses him first. And just like that, she can see in all play out in her head. Maybe she should go for it even without that conversation. She should just go for the kiss and not label it with the “later” tag like everything else. Maybe, she will…</p><p>“Well, I guess that every starfish needs its own square to make a pillow from,” she said in a low voice, her hand rising up to softly cup his face.</p><p>“Hmm, it would seem so,” he hummed in agreement and started to move closer, her touch giving him the courage to do what he wanted for so long.</p><p>Or not…</p><p>They were suddenly interrupted by a loud crash and sound of something breaking. They both jumped up into a sitting position with a panic written all over their faces.</p><p>Deke’s voice echoed from somewhere in the corridor. “Uh, guys?! We don’t really need the main control panel on the bridge anymore, right? Because it kinda, uhm, broke.”</p><p>Daisy let out a frustrated sigh and facepalmed. Leave it to Deke to be the buzzkill. She looked over at Daniel. The initial annoyed look on their faces slowly transformed into a huge grin before they both burst out laughing. She hid her face in his shoulder and he put his arm around her waist, enjoying one last moment alone before they go off to deal with the new disaster. Daisy at least knows now that they really need to have that conversation soon. Because whatever this is, she wants it no matter what.</p><p>“Guys?!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ok, so this was supposed to be one-shot but if anyone is interested I might write down at least one more chapter about "that conversation" and kiss (and publish it separately). I didn't want to include it here since there are already so many fanfics about how Daisy breaks the news about their kiss to Daniel. </p><p>I hoped you enjoyed it and I guess we'll see each other in the Dousy trash can.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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